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OU Law Students Work for Rural Summer Legal Corps

June 9, 2017
| By Mackenzie Dilbeck, Director of Communications

This summer, two University of Oklahoma College of Law students are working for Rural Summer Legal Corps. Rising 3L students Tyler Akers and Maggie Moon are serving at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. and West Tennessee Legal Services.

Akers and Moon join 28 other public interest law students in addressing pressing legal issues facing rural communities in the areas of housing, domestic violence, public benefits, migrant farmworkers, Native American, and family law. Specifically, Akers will use his experience growing up in a small southern Oklahoma community to assist the Legal Services of Oklahoma to create a Pro Se Divorce Clinic. Through this clinic, Akers will serve low-income persons in Oklahoma to address common misunderstandings, incomplete forms, due process problems, and referrals from courts. Moon will be an essential part of establishing a rural behavioral health medical-legal partnership providing holistic help for low-income individuals to overcome non-medical/psychological barriers that include a legal solution.

As part of their training, Tyler and Maggie traveled with other students around the country working for Rural Summer Legal Corps to Martinsburg, West Virginia where they gained first-hand experience on the unique challenges and benefits of working with legal clients in a rural setting. Details about that training trip can be found by clicking here.